Game Within Game: Words come back to haunt Canucks against Sharks

T.J. Galiardi, Joe Thornton and Brent Burns (left to right) of the San Jose Sharks celebrate after Burns scored a first-period goal against the Vancouver Canucks during Game 4 of the Canucks-Sharks NHL Western Conference quarter-final series at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

Photograph by: Christian Petersen
, Getty Images

THREE STARS

ONE – Joe Thornton, Sharks. Set up series winner. Finished with three assists, four shots and 13-for-23 on faceoffs.

TWO – Joe Pavelski, Sharks. Two goals, nine shots, two blocked shots, 10-for-18 on the draw.

THREE – Alex Burrows, Canucks. One goal, one assist, three shots, plus-1.

PIVOTAL POINT – With the Canucks leading 3-2 in the third period and trying to protect their slim advantage, Kevin Bieksa shoved Tommy Wingels into the boards and drew a cross checking penalty. The Canucks lost the subsequent draw, the Sharks pressured, Cory Schneider coughed up a rebound on Joe Thornton's wrister, Logan Couture poked the loose puck over to Joe Pavelski, who roofed the tying goal with 4:27 left in the third. Patrick Marleau then put the Canucks away for good in overtime as Schneider couldn't handle another Thornton shot.

BY THE NUMBERS – Canuck coach Alain Vigneault's playoff record behind the Canuck bench fell to 33-35 and 2-12 in his last 14 games... In 29 attempts at eliminating an opponent from a playoff series, the Sharks improved to 14-15... With his third period assist, Daniel Sedin moved past Pavel Bure and into third place in Canucks all-time playoff scoring (67 points)... Dan Hamhuis has been in the playoff eight times in his career and has lost in the first round seven times, five with Nashville and now twice with the Canucks... Chris Higgins finished his second straight playofff series without a point.

HAUNTED BY OWN WORDS? After Kevin Bieksa's theatrics on Monday, calling the Sharks divers, did his words come back to haunt him after he too was sent off for a crosscheck on Tommy Wingels? And then did Daniel Sedin get no benefit of the doubt for his overtime shoulder-to-shoulder check on Wingels that resulted in Marleau's series' winner?

DID YOU NOTICE: TSN analyst Ray Ferraro was all over the Sharks' sly strategy of gaining extra rest following an icing call by sending a non-centre, in this case Raffi Torres, to the circle with the sole purpose of being thrown out. Torres wasn't too subtle either as he whacked the puck out of linesmen Greg Devorski's hand. A presumably rested Adam Burish eventually won the faceoff when the puck was dropped.

EARS BURNING? After two periods author and columnist Bruce Dowbiggin tweeted this: “Can Alex Edler play worse? Saw Leaf fans boo Larry Murphy for playing 10 times better than this. Caught flat-footed, penalty, bad passes.” Edler then scored in the third period and it was the potential game-winner until the Bieksa penalty and the Pavelski tying goal.

UNDERSTATEMENT: “Obviously we're confident in what we do out there.” – Shark centre Joe Pavelski after the first period when asked about San Jose's potent power play, which scored seven times on 24 chances (30 per cent) and netting the tying and winning goals Tuesday.

PREDICTION GONE BAD: Radio play-by-play man John Shorthouse at the end of his pre-game interview with coach Alain Vigneault: “Hope we can do this again on Thursday. Vigneault to Shortie: “I'm sure we will.”

T.J. Galiardi, Joe Thornton and Brent Burns (left to right) of the San Jose Sharks celebrate after Burns scored a first-period goal against the Vancouver Canucks during Game 4 of the Canucks-Sharks NHL Western Conference quarter-final series at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

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